The sample tweet below is for a product called the TSC Side Sleeper. These are some reasons why it is a good tweet:

Opening phrase got a 76% Headline Analyzer score

It offers to help a common problem (getting a better sleep)

The line of text is short

It has a picture that grabs their attention

The TSC has a green check mark but will be unknown to most people. It will pique their curiosity

It links to a very informative page

People are asked to retweet it. They are more apt to retweet if they are asked to

3. Start first Twitter ads campaign

Click on your profile picture. Click on Twitter Ads.

Click on blue Create Campaign button the top. This blog post is about selling a product. So, you will click on the Website Clicks or Conversions link.

Give advertising campaign a descriptive name.

4. Set budget, Tweet & target market

Fill in everything as you see fit. If you are on a tight budget, set your start & end dates. Then click Next.

Click the check box in front of the tweet you wish to use in your ad. Decide where you want to place your ad. The search query Tweet is triggered by the user’s desire for information. So, you definitely want to include Search Results. Twitter has a huge list of categories. In this example, I searched for “sleep”. Twitter showed me the closest related category in their list (sleep disorders).

To find your target market more precisely, click Return to Original Campaign Form. For geographical locations, I chose Import Multiple Locations. After I had written the countries on 2 separate lines, I clicked the Add Locations button.

For age I chose 50 and over. The rest of the audience features should be self explanatory. When finished, check your ad with the Audience Summary. It you are satisfied, click Save in upper right-hand corner.

Your LinkedIn timeline

After you write a LinkedIn article, it may be good marketing to link to it from your LinkedIn timeline. This post tells you how to do just that.

Linking to your LinkedIn article in 3 steps

1. Copy article URL

Copy (Cmd C) the web address of the article into your clipboard.

2. Find ideal picture

You want a simple picture that relates to your subject. I usually use the picture from above the headline. Find where it is in your Finder. Look at information such as date. That will make it easier to locate it using LinkedIn.

From a LinkedIn page click on Home and then Images. Using information from the Finder in the above paragraph, double click on the name of appropriate image.

3. Write message above picture

Above the picture you just inserted there is space for text. Type a message that will get the visitors’ attention. At the end of it paste (Cmd V) the URL form point #1 above.

Curious about the picture?

LinkedIn marketing

If you are selling to businesses, a good social media marketing idea would be to write LinkedIn articles that subtly promote your product. A good way to get people to read your articles is to link to them from your LinkedIn timeline.

Free wifi is everywhere

You don’t want to shell out the monthly expense of a data plan. So, you stand outside a coffee shop, hair salon or any place that has free wifi — but you have no VPN.

Perhaps you are at an airport waiting for your flight. You want to catch up on some business. So, you log into the free wifi.

Hacking Risk

What you may not realize is that you are at a definite risk of being hacked. A hacker could be sitting nearby with a laptop using a program that mimics the legitimate free wifi.

The mimicking wifi has a name similar to the free wifi. If the free wifi is Paris Airport, the mimicking wifi could be called Airport Paris. The hacker can see whatever you are doing online. He can steal passwords, credit card numbers and any other things you download or upload.

Eliminating the risk

The technology that eliminates the risk is called PrivateVPN (VPN stands for virtual private network). Log into the free wifi. Before doing anything that would expose private information, log into PrivateVPN. (You can get a free 7-day trial VPN now if you wish.)

When you login, your signal goes through an encryption tunnel and gives you a completely different IP address.

You log into the free wifi from that new IP address. No hacker will be able to hack into your mobile device.

Enjoy a secure web experience with PrivateVPN

PrivateVPN, a Swedish-based VPN provider, offers:

The highest levels of security and privacy,

Stable connections from anywhere in the world

Uninterrupted VPN service — 24 hours a day — guaranteed.

A reasonable price!

First-rate service

Customer support that is second to none! They assist customers through live chat, email and remote desktop help through their TeamViewer system. They’re here to help you in any way they can.

Always use protection

Evidence tells us that working with that free wifi is risky. There also is evidence that protecting yourself using a VPN (virtual private network) is foolproof. PrivateVPN is your answer to protecting yourself.

You may consider logging into the free wifi from your hotel room. You may never consider that the guy down the hall may be using an evil twin.

Cybersecurity experts say that there are three types of people in the world:

People who have been hacked,

People who will be hacked, and

People who are being hacked right now but don’t know it yet.

By using the free wifi, you may inadvertently be allowing hackers to get passwords, account numbers, etc.

Think about this statistic: The number of identity theft victims in the US rose to 15.4 million in 2016.

Evidence that people are using free wifi

It’s safe to say that delegates who attend political conventions are reasonably intelligent. They could represent a good cross section of the American population

Someone gather statistics from the 2016 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Around 70% of delegates connected to the nonsecure Wi-Fi networks at each of the conferences.

Here’s how it could work: You log on to the free Wi-Fi in the convention hall. You think you’re joining the hotel’s network. Somewhere nearby, a hacker is outputting a Wi-Fi signal off of their laptop. It has a name slightly different from the hotel’s signal. You are tricked into using it because it is labeled with the hotel’s name.

The hacker can see every username, password & credit card number you enter.

Avoiding that hacker

There is a simple way to avoid that hacker in the above scenario. It’s called PrivateVPN. You install it on your desktop & mobile devices. (Buy it once & you can use it on 6 devices.)

Before you log into the free wifi, open PrivateVPN. It will find an encryption tunnel to the country of your choice. In that country you will get a new temporary IP address.

You can use the free wifi at your heart’s content. The hacker will not be able to find you.

A real life example

In 2014 experts from Kaspersky Lab uncovered a very sophisticated hacking campaign called “Dark Hotel.” Operating for more than seven years and believed to be a sophisticated economic espionage campaign by an unknown country, Dark Hotel targeted CEOs, government agencies, U.S. executives, NGOs, and other high-value targets while they were in Asia. When executives connected to their luxury hotel’s Wi-Fi network and downloaded what they believed were regular software updates, their devices were infected with malware. This malware could sit inactive and undetected for several months before being remotely accessed to obtain sensitive information on the device. Read more.

Using this website

It takes a great deal of time & research to create blogs on this website. So, when you choose a VPN, please buy PrivateVPN from this web page.

I will make a commission each time you do. It will help repay me for my time & effort creating this blog.

Besides that, you will have the added benefit of being able to use free wifi with complete peace of mind.

Best pinning practice

It is best practice to pin 5 to 10 Pinterest pins that other people have created for each of your own. There is a strong correlation between how often you pin other people’s content to your board and how often Pinterest will show your content to your followers. It’s built into Pinterest’s algorithm.

Pinning other people’s pins in 3 steps

1. Log into Pinterest

You must log into Pinterest so that your boards will show up.

2. Search for pins for your board

I wanted to add more pins to my cybersecurity board. I searched for cybersecurity pinterest. I saw titles such as 55 Best Cybersecurity Images on Pinterest. All I had to do was pin the best 5 – 10 images.

3. Find image & click save

When you find an image you want, hover over it. A red Save button will show up in the right-hand corner.

Click the Save button.

The names of your boards will show up. Click on the Save button on the board you want. In my case it was Cybersecurity.

That’s all you have to do. Just find 5 – 10 of the most attractive images & pin them to your board.

What is an evil twin?

An evil twin is a hotspot set up by a cybercriminal or hacker. It mimics a legitimate hot spot in just about every way.

The evil twin’s purpose is to eavesdrop on unsuspecting users and/or to insert themselves in the various data conversations happening between hotspot users and servers.

Once connected to you, the hacker or criminal may be able to:

Steal passwords, account names, etc.

View files that are being uploaded or downloaded.

The hacker could be sitting behind you in an airline terminal. The evil twin wifi signal could be emanating from their laptop with a signal that looks like the legitimate wifi signal. The name would just have been changed slightly. More.

How to defend yourself against an evil twin

Avoiding evil twins may be as simple as using an inexpensive VPN (virtual private network). With a VPN, you would

Log into the hotspot

Use the VPN in your mobile device to use an encryption tunnel to find a temporary VPN server.

Surf the web using the IP address of the temporary VPN server.

How PrivateVPN works

As soon as you log into a free wifi or any other unsafe site, open PrivateVPN. It will find an encryption tunnel to the country of your choice. In that country you will get a new temporary IP address.

You will have 55+ countries from which to choose. If the connection is too slow, try another country.

The hacker will be unable to find you. Your online data will be completely safe. You have a completely secure web event.

You search for what is my IP address? IP Lookup will give your IP address. Click on Get IP Details.

You will see data telling that you are in Belgium (or whichever country you chose). You start accessing the Internet. You download & upload data to your heart’s content. The evil twin cannot find any of your data.

Buy now

Note that it is a great deal of work to produce these blog posts. Also note that I will get a commission if you buy PrivateVPN from this blog post. Please support me & buy PrivateVPN now.

Solution: VPN

Faithfully using a VPN (virtual private network) can virtually eliminate this threat. VPN companies usually have servers in a number of different countries. Before ever going online, you open up your VPN and select a country.

You are then given an IP address for that particular country. Then you go onto the Internet. The VPN encrypts the data before it passes through the Internet. Then it decrypts it when it reaches your computer.

This GIF is an illustration of a user in North America getting an IP address from Finland. Even if a hacker was able to decrypt your data (extremely unlikely), he would not know from which country you came.

PrivateVPN

I used PrivateVPN to find an IP address in Finland. Then I used whatismyipaddress.com to find a map and other details that tell where my temporary IP address is located.

Unlike some other VPNs, they keep no records about where you surf on the web

You pay for ONE account and can use it on a total of 6 devices

With NordVPN, mobile employees can securely connect to company resources from virtually anywhere in the world. This applies even with insecure Wi-Fi hot spots.

Summary

Cybersecurity will be at a high level when you faithfully use a VPN with your mobile devices. Your company financial, customer and other sensitive information will be kept secure. Your employees can increase their productivity and keep things private at the same time.

Snooping search engines

Subsequently used to customize the advertising and future searches for your machine

Zero respect for your privacy

Privacy solution: VPN

There is a technique to protect you from those prying eyes. It’s called using a VPN (virtual private network). It makes you untraceable on the Internet.

When you start a web surf, you go straight to the VPN and BYPASS YOUR ISP (Internet service provider). When you get to the website you want, you will be using the IP address of the VPN. Whoever would like to track you does not know it is you.

Wherever you lie in that spectrum, a good VPN will be a good step in the right direction.

In the case of the VPN I use (PrivateVPN), the signal may even jump to a server in another country before you get to the website. The snooper won’t even know what country you’re from.

10 reasons why people may want a VPN

Intranet outside the office

VPNs will allow employees to access a corporate intranet in complete privacy while located outside the office.

Secure chat rooms

Your girlfriend, wife or business partner can enter the URL of a chat room to take part in a secret chat.

Con men

Every place you go to, your online activities can be monitored by Internet service providers, government organizations or criminals. Protect ourselves against malware or con tricks when web browsing.

Securely connect separated offices

Use VPN to securely connect geographically separated offices of an organization, creating one cohesive network.

Circumvent political censorship

Secure your transactions with a VPN to circumvent geo-restrictions and censorship. Countries like Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria surveil and limit access to the Internet. Activists and journalists in one of these countries can connect to a VPN server and tunnel out of the censorship restrictions. A VPN conceals your page-by-page activity from any government eavesdropping.

YouTube users might have come across a message that says, “This video is not available in your country”. PrivateVPN’s free YouTube proxy allows you to watch any video with zero constraints.

Note that you must add the VPN to your computer before you arrive in the geo-restricted country.

Online shopping

Do you get annoyed by the shopping sites keeping tabs on you? They start sending you ads related to where you shop. VPN makes that a thing of the past.

Test online strategies geographically

VPNs services allow SEO and marketing professionals to connect to servers in different regions to test their strategies and processes.

Make public wifi private

Those Starbucks or McDonald’s hotspots are not safe for confidential email and browsing. Public wi-fi offers no encryption security to its users, and your signals are broadcast for anyone savvy enough to eavesdrop.

It’s very easy for even a beginner hacker to intercept your unencrypted wi-fi signal using an Evil Twin phony hotspot or a Firefox Tamper Data plugin. Mobile users should consider spending the 3 to 15 dollars per month for the safety of a VPN connection.

Secure Skype phoning

It’s relatively easy to eavesdrop on Voice-over-IP (Internet telephoning). Even intermediate-level hackers can listen in to your VOIP calls. Perhaps you regularly use VOIP services like Skype. If you log into a public wi-fi network and then connect to a personal VPN, all of your hotspot web use will then be encrypted and hidden from prying ears & eyes.

Make booking flights & accommodation cheaper

Flight and accommodation Booking websites:

Display different fees based on users location and currency.

Use tracking of your online activity

Allows them to increase the fee on your next visit

To ensure the cheapest rates, use PrivateVPN services whenever planning your next trip.

Free 7-day trial

If you wish to tryout a VPN at no cost for 7 days, go to free 7-day trial VPN. No credit card is required.

You will create a password that allows you to use PrivateVPN from anywhere in the world — on up to 5 devices at the same time.

It takes only a few minutes before your own VPN will be downloaded into your Downloads folder. Double click on it and then drag the NordVPN app into your applications folder icon.

In a few seconds you will actually see it within your actual applications folder.

Double click on PrivateVPN. Fill in the email address and password that you gave during registration.

Click on the country list link. Click on the country from which you want to appear to be browsing.

Suppose you tested your new VPN out by clicking on the Belgium country link. Then search for what is my IP address? IP Lookup will give your IP address. Click on Get IP Details.

You will see data telling that you are in Belgium.

During the next 7 days, test out everything you can think of.

Email problems?

After you have used your PrivateVPN, you may be unable to use your regular email. That’s because you are not using your regular IP address.

To enable your regular IP address, click on PrivateVPN in your applications folder. You will get a PrivateVPN panel. Click on the button in the centre of the panel & your home IP address will be set up again. Then you email will work the way it did before you got PrivateVPN.

Blogger’s notes

To buy PrivateVPN, please click on any PrivateVPN link on this blog post. I will get a commission & it will help defray the cost of creating and keeping up this website.

Social media icons for better branding

Use good social media marketing techniques to help brand your product, company, self, etc. One technique involves including social media icons at the bottom of every email you send out. These will link to the corresponding social media pages. This blog post tells how to add the social media icons to the bottom of every Mac Mail email you send out.

What to include in your signature

Your social media icons will be included in your Mac Mail signature. For ideal social media marketing, this is what to include in the signature:

1. Your name in colour using a unique font
2. Your email address and position in your company
3. Link to your website
4. Social Media images with links to corresponding pages.

Adding the icons in 8 steps

In Mac Mail, click New Message

Add a line of underscores, your name, position & other contact information as seen in this image

Drag and drop pertinent social media logos from Finder to beneath text. (Note that the logos in this image were saved with GIMP at 50 px. high with a 5 px white bar on each side. If they are too overpowering, reduce their height using GIMP. To find the icons in the first place, enter keywords such as these into your search bar: images instagram logo.)

Highlight your email address and website URL and add clickable links to each. To do this, highlight the email address, right-click and select Link > Add link. Note that for the email address you have to add “mailto:” in front of the email address.

For each social media icon, find your profile corresponding to social media. Click on the image, and then click the Edit > Add link.

Highlight your name and click Format > Show Fonts.
Select the font that you would like for your signature.

Highlight everything you just created and press Cmd C to copy it into your clipboard. In the Apple Mail menu select Preferences > Signature.

If you already have signatures, ignore them and click the +button to add a new signature. If you want this to be the default signature for a specific account, choose the account from the left menu before adding the new signature. Enter a name for the signature and press Cmd V to paste your new signature into the box. Once this is done, click the tiny red close button in the upper left-hand corner.

Creating a brand new website

In a nutshell, this post will tell you how to make a brand new WordPress website. In this example it will have:

* A home page
* A contact us page with a Google Map
* Local optimization to put you on Google’s page 1
* Two business email addresses that link to your regular address. E.g., Sales@myamazingwebsite.com & Info@myamazingwebsite.com
* An About Us page.

What if you start reading this over and you don’t want to do it yourself? Well, go to Kelowna Virtual Assistant and find out how we can do it for you.

How to set up the entire WordPress website in 11 steps

1. Web host

Since I started creating websites in 1996, I’ve used many different web hosts. My very favourite one has been LiquidNet Ltd Hosting. They have amazing tech support and have been able to help me with practically any problem I’ve had. Besides that, they make it easy to set up a WordPress website.

You probably need no more than the starter package. It is only $35 (USD) per year.

2. Domain name

Choose domain name that helps brand your business. For instance, IBM has ibm.com, Kelowna Virtual Assistant has kelownavirtualassistant.com and CNN has cnn.com.

This post will help you decide upon the ideal domain name for your business.

3. Buy & register your domain

My very favourite place for buying & registering domain names is WhoIs.com. Go there as soon as you have decided upon your domain name. Click on Login to create an account.

You will have to change the DNS settings to supremedns1 & supermedns2. Go here now to find out how to do that.

4. Set up WordPress

Before setting up WordPress, go to My Domains > Hosted Domains. Click the white on black Host Domain button. Add your new domain name to the Domain box. Click Add a Host.

Go to this blog post to see how to add WordPress to a LiquidNet Ltd Hosting website.

5. Home Page

If you followed the instructions in the previous paragraph, you should have a home page. To edit it, click on edit from ANY page in your new website. On the left-hand side, you will see a black column called the Dashboard. Click on Pages > All Pages.

If you scan through the pages, you will see one called Home. Click the Edit link to make changes.

It is important that the Home page be attractive and informative. That is often where visitors go to find more information about your business.

6. WordPress plugins

WordPress plugins are bits of software that can be uploaded to make WordPress more powerful. After you have finished your initial WordPress website, you really should click on that link and then learn about the most important plugins. Make sure you have them.

7. Contact Us form

Of all the WordPress Contact Us forms I’ve ever used, Caldera Forms is my favourite plugin. Using the instructions from the above paragraph, go to the Plugins link in your dashboard and install & activate Caldera Forms.

Then go to Pages > Add New and add a new page called Contact Us. Using these instructions, add a Contact Us form to that new page.

8. Google Map

Go to this Google Maps page and add a Google map to your Contact Us page. Make sure there is a pin at the address of your business.

9. Google p.1 with Local Listing

Local Listing means that you can often get on Google p.1 if you have a Google Map and set up Google My Business properly. Learn more on the Google My Business blog post.

10. Specialized email addresses

You may want to have specialized email address similar to info@myamazingbusiness.com. Say you want to have it forward to your personal email address. Your business card can have info@myamazingbusiness.com. You do not have to have your personal email address on your business card. This is how to do it:

11. About Us page

To add your About Us page, click on New just to the left of View Page. For New you have 5 choices. Select Page.

The rest should be intuitive. Make sure you give a little bit about your history and what you might do to give a benefit to the visitor. Include pictures that promote your business.

Too time consuming?

After going through this blog post, you may decided that you are not prepared to spend the time learning all of this. That’s reasonable. Simply go to Kelowna Virtual Assistant and find out how we can create your WordPress website for you.